Monday, July 20, 2009

German city honors Egyptian woman slain in court




By JOERG ABERGER (AP) – Jul 11, 2009

DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of people carrying white roses gathered Saturday on the steps of Dresden's city hall in honor of an Egyptian woman who was fatally stabbed by a defendant in a German courtroom.

Marwa al-Sherbini, a pregnant 31-year-old pharmacist, was stabbed 18 times in a court where she was to have testified against a young Russian-born German. She had filed a complaint against him in 2008 accusing him of insulting her with racial slurs.

The public memorial, organized by local civil rights groups, drew more than 1,000 people, including the Egyptian ambassador and officials from the state of Saxony, where the July 1 stabbing took place.

Mourners brought single white roses that they laid beneath large photos of the dead woman.

Al-Sherbini was stabbed as her 3-year-old son looked on. Her husband was injured when he intervened to protect her and he remains hospitalized.

The attacker, identified only as Alex W., 28, remains in detention pending the outcome of an investigation on suspicion of murder. Charging a suspect typically takes months in Germany.

Al-Sherbini had already testified once against the man in court in November 2008, after which he was fined for calling her a "terrorist" and an "Islamist at a playground.

He had returned to court on July 1 to challenge the fine. Because the man was not considered a threat and had not been held in detention before the court session, there was no security surrounding the trial.

Many German courts, including that in Dresden, have no security checks at their entrance.

"This crime by a lone wolf destroyed a family's hopes within minutes," said Egyptian Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy. "We expect the attacker to be swiftly sentenced and her family to receive justice."

Egyptians have expressed outrage at the attack, saying the German response has been too little, too late and serves as an example of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during the Group of Eight summit in Italy on Thursday and sent her top official for immigration affairs to offer sympathy to al-Sherbini's husband, but has not publicly condemned the slaying.

Ramzy said he was convinced "that this act does not reflect the reality of the German people. The Germans have an open mind, including to people of other faiths," he said.

One of those at the memorial was Walerius Steinhauer who, like the attacker, was born in Russia of German forefathers and was allowed to emigrate after the collapse of communism in 1989.

"We Russian-Germans do not understand this young man. All of us are asking ourselves how could a Russian-German (immigrant) become a right-wing extremist?"

Others expressed similar outrage.

Tobias Weidlich, 29, brought his two young daughters to the memorial.

"The brutality and horror of this crime is unbelievable," he said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Photobucket
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Our Da'wah (Invitation) - Summarized

All praise is due to Allaah, we praise Him and seek His aid
and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allaah from the evils
of our souls and the evils of our actions. Whomsoever
Allaah guides there is none to misguide and whomsoever
Allaah misguides there is none to guide. I bear witness
that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah,
alone, without any partners and I bear witness that
Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

1. We worship Allaah by way of Tawheed. So we do not supplicate to anyone besides Allaah nor do we seek refuge in anyone besides Him in matters of bringing about good or repelling some harm. We perform worship by having hatred and enmity for the polytheists. However, we are obligated to call them to Tawheed first and clarify to them that there is no Islaam without Tawheed and that whoever calls unto other than Allaah has committed disbelief. So whoever persists after that, then at that point we are obligated to distance ourselves from him and hate him for the sake of Allaah.
2. The Creed of the Salaf is established upon the principle that "Allaah is described with what He has described himself with in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), without resorting to tahreef, tamtheel, tashbeeh, ta’teel
or ta’weel." [1] \
3. We affirm for Allaah the best of Names, which He has affirmed for Himself and which He has praised Himself with, whether they are mentioned in the Qur’aan or the Sunnah.
4. We believe that there is no path towards achieving Allaah’s contentment, or a way towards Paradise, except through the Way of Allaah’s Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). And whoever seeks a way towards gaining Allaah’s contentment through other than the Way of Allaah’s Messenger, then he has gone astray and been blinded from the truth. And he has lost in this world and the next. 5. We believe that the Legislation of Allaah is what has been brought down through the two revelations: The Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). This is what our Lord has indicated in his saying: "Then we placed you on a Sharee'ah (Legislated System) based on Our Command, so follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who have no knowledge." [Surah Al-Jaathiyah: 18] 6. We believe that the Qur’aan is the Speech of Allaah, which was revealed and not created, and that the Sunnah is what explains and clarifies it. The Qur’aan is interpreted by the Sunnah and by the interpretations of the Sahaabah (Companions) and those who followed them in goodness. So the interpretation of the Qur’aan is by way of the narration, meaning by way of the Sahaabah, the Taabi’een and the Ahaadeeth concerning it. And the books that contain these interpretations are the ones we are obligated to acquire and read, such as the Tafseer of Ibn Jareer, the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer, the Tafseer of Al-Baghawee, the Tafseer "Ad-Durr Al-Manthoor" of As-Suyootee and so on.
7. We are obligated to take the Sunnah according to the way of the Muhadditheen - in terms of their authenticity or weakness. So we take what is found to be authentic and leave off what is weak.
8. We worship Allaah by obeying the rulers, as long as they are Muslims who seek judgement through Allaah’s Legislation and who establish the prescribed punishments, and as long as they establish the prayer. Obeying them is an obligation even if they commit oppression. And whoever says something contrary to this and makes it permissible to revolt against the Muslim leader, even if he may be oppressive, then he is an innovator and a deviant. And it is obligatory on the Muslim scholars to refute this statement of his and to expose his deviance. 9. We hold that it is not permissible to spread the faults of the leaders, because doing this influences and brings about trials and afflictions (fitan), and causes them to spread.

10. We are obligated to worship Allaah through the Sunnah, by following it and by loathing innovations and the innovators. This is based on the Prophet’s saying:
"Whoever does a deed, which is not in accordance to our
affair (i.e. the Sunnah) is rejected." And in another
narration: "Whoever introduces into our affair (Sunnah)
that which isn’t part of it is rejected." This is a summary
and some brief words on the Creed of the Salaf, which we are obligated to accept and follow if we truly want salvation and the truth. And we must renounce those opinions of men, which cannot be traced back to any source of evidence, since men are known by way of the truth and the truth is not known by way of men. Lastly, we must beg and implore Allaah to show us the truth as true and enable us to follow it, and to show us the falsehood as false and enable us to avoid it. Indeed Allaah is Responsible for that and Able to make it happen. And may the peace and blessings of Allaah be on Muhammad - the best, most dutiful, most pious and purest of creation - and on his family and his Companions. Footnotes: [1]
Translator’s Note: These are forbidden acts committed
against Allaah’s Names and Attributes. Tahreef means to
change or distort the wording of Allaah’s name or
attribute. Tamtheel and tashbeeh means to give a like
resemblance to a name or an attribute. Ta’teel means
total denial of a name or an attribute. Ta’weel means to
misinterpret a name or an attribute, thus changing it’s
meaning. Taken from the works by Shaikh Ahmad bin Yahyaa An-Najmee, Rahimahullaah originally entitled "10 Points on the Salafee Manhaj" from Al-Fataawaa
al-Jaliyyah ‘anil-Manaahij Ad-Da’wiyyah (pg. 56-57)
compiled by Hasan Ibn Mahmood Ibn Mansoor ad-Daghreeri and originally translated by the staff at al-Ibaanah.